IN PERFORMANCE

IN PERFORMANCE; CABARET

By STEPHEN HOLDEN

Published: August 9, 1994

"While I'm There," one of the smartest contemporary songs in Phillip Officer's new show celebrating female lyricists, is a refreshingly spunky declaration of sexual independence. "Don't treat me as fragile/ I'm really very agile/I'm robust/I want lust," goes Ellen Greenfield's lyric, which translates sentiments expressed more decorously by Dorothy Fields six decades ago into an invitation stripped of coy metaphors.

The show, "I Dream Too Much," which plays on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 6:30 P.M. at the Ballroom (253 West 28th Street, Chelsea), is a nifty experiment in role reversal by Mr. Officer, a cabaret singer. For decades, women performing in nightclubs have been moaning lovelorn ballads written mostly by men. But in turning the tables, Mr. Officer has chosen songs that, far from wallowing in unrequited passion, are surprisingly optimistic and playful.

His show covers over eight decades of popular song, going as far back as 1910 with "Let Me Call You Sweetheart" (lyrics by Beth Slater Whitson, music by Leo Friedman). Fields, with four songs, is the songwriter most heavily represented. The other material runs from Kay Thompson's antic and witty "Violins" to Carolyn Leigh and Cy Coleman's steamy "You Fascinate Me So" to familiar pop hits like "Come In From the Rain" and "Get Here."

The show further confirms Mr. Officer as one of the most talented male stars of New York's cabaret scene. He has a light, soaring voice that has some of the qualities of a traditional Irish tenor. A bursting romantic enthusiasm is balanced with scrupulous control and emotional understatement. Dick Gallagher's lean pianism and Mia Wu's sweet, scampering violin enhance the feeling communicated by Mr. Officer of a sweetness and idealism that emanate from deep inside. STEPHEN HOLDEN